


Raisins of Mirth

by misura



Category: Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Celebrations, Everybody Lives, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-19 15:22:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13126461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: A celebration, a dare and a silent declaration of love.





	Raisins of Mirth

**Author's Note:**

  * For [foxxcub](https://archiveofourown.org/users/foxxcub/gifts).



_Soak raisins in liquor and then set them on fire. And_ then _eat them._

Matthias had thought the whole idea sounded like madness the first time Nina had described it to him, and seeing the process actually performed had not changed his opinion. Why go through so much trouble? Why risk getting burnt for no good reason?

True, he seemed to be the only one not getting into the mood of things - everyone else looked like they were having a great time. Nina, of course, most of all.

He hated the thought of something, anything going wrong and wiping that smile off of her face.

_I'll be careful,_ he promised himself. No part of his _drüskelle_ training had involved learning how to safely eat things that were on fire, but even so. _I'll make sure nobody gets hurt, that by the end of the evening, Nina'll still be smiling._

Jesper, predictably, was the first to make a try for one of the raisins. He seemed to handle it well enough. "What the - this is some high-end stuff."

"Naturally," said Nina. "The better the liquor, the better they burn - and the better they taste." She picked and swallowed two, three raisins in quick succession. "See? Easy."

"Easy for you to say it's easy, you mean," Wylan said. He looked a little nervous.

Jesper nudged him. "You make bombs. You can handle a couple of raisins on fire."

"Can, sure. Want to? I'm not so sure about that."

"Well, if you won't, I will," Jesper said.

Inej rolled her eyes. For a moment, Matthias hoped he might have found an ally, but then she reached forward and popped one of the raisins into her mouth.

Wylan still looked dubious.

"Matthias? You're not scared, are you?" Nina batted her eye-lashes at him. "Impress me."

"Impossible," said Matthias, without even thinking about it. Still, it was true. He could not think of anything that would impress Nina, certainly not anything _he_ could do.

Nina laughed. Matthias's stomach did something strange - not unpleasant, just strange.

"Watch me," she ordered, as if Matthias would ever be able to take his eyes off of her when she was looking like this. (Or ever, really. He'd accepted that now. No matter what happened, he'd never again look away from Nina and risk missing a single smile.)

She made it look easy, but then, being Nina, she made everything look easy.

"Now you do it."

They were all looking at him now, Matthias was uncomfortably aware. Waiting. If he refused, that would be sure to make Nina lose her smile, and it would be all his fault.

He reminded himself that he was a _drüskelle_. His fellow countrymen might not think so, but in his heart, he was still as dedicated to protecting the world from Grisha as ever.

He had simply realized that that protection meant that the Grisha needed protecting, too. That the best way to protect everyone was by making people stop hating each other and acknowledge that everyone, Grisha and non-Grisha alike, deserved a chance at leading peaceful, happy lives.

"Matthias?" Nina asked. Her smile had slipped, Matthias realized with a shock.

He stared at the raisins. The raisins that were on fire. Unlike Nina, Matthias had no particular taste for sweets, or liquor. _Or things that are on fire._ He swallowed. _Stop thinking about it._

_Stop thinking, and just do it._

The flavor wasn't as bad as he'd expected, the liquor (or maybe the fire) having diminished the sweetness of the raisin.

Nina beamed at him, and Matthias realized that he would gladly swallow burning coals if it would make her look at him like that.

Although if he could make do with raisins, that would definitely be preferable.


End file.
